Honey Switch Month: Top 5 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Villains

The 1990s were without a doubt the best decade to grow up in, especially for young girls addicted to television. We didn’t need to look for role models in books or in the classroom because we could find our heroines waiting for us at home on Xena, The X-Files, and even Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. But one of my favorite female bad-asses that I gazed upon in my youth was Buffy in the seven-season series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although my teen years awaited me in the early 2000s, I often stared at the living room television screen and hoped that my high school experience would be just like hers… vampires and all.

Despite vampires being Buffy’s supernatural specialty, she took on a number of unique creatures and evil forces throughout the show and somehow she still had time to tackle homework and exams. And boys. Paying tribute to the non-vampy antagonists of the series, here are my Top 5 Buffy the Vampire Slayer villains…

1. Cheer Mom

Early on in the series, Joss Whedon was already creating villains that reflected real life growing pains, especially for young women. Many teen girls are familiar with the parent—especially the mother—who wants them to have it all. Popularity. Beauty. Success. Hell, the high school years tend to be only a warm-up for the parental pressure to come. In the episode titled “Witch” (Season 1, Episode 6), cheer mom Catherine Madison is the ultimate mother monster.

"Don't touch that last brownie!"

Fearing that her daughter Amy is not making the most of her high school experience, the back-in-the-day cheer queen dabbles in dark forces to switch bodies with Amy and live vicariously through her… literally. There are plenty of parents who become too involved in the lives of their children but Catherine stands at the top of them all, proving that a mother’s devotion to raising a successful child knows no bounds.

The next batch of bad guys will steal your heart away but they prefer a woman to be seen and not heard. In fact, The Gentlemen prefer the whole town to be silent. In “Hush” (Season 4, Episode 10), two snappily dressed in bowtie tuxedos followed by two in straight-jackets, these nightmarish fairytale creatures glide through the halls of Sunnydale University carving out the hearts of slumbering (or passed out?) college students without the slightest peep.

All the noise, noise, noise noise!

What is most horrifying about these not-so-fine men, however, is not their lack of sound but their lack of motive for the blood that they spill. And the identical shiny wide smiles plastered across their faces while they make dorm life unlivable.

You can be anything you want if you just put your mind to it… or if you put on the right costume as is shown in the episode “Halloween” (Season 2, Episode 6). Yet another dabbler in the dark arts, costume shop owner Ethan Rayne first wreaks havoc on Sunnydale on what was supposed to be calm Halloween night. Forgetting who they really are, Buffy and her Scooby gang play an involuntary game of make believe in the streets. Ethan’s handy work is so unexpected and his powers so strong that it even makes the show’s bloodsucking regulars giddy to join in the mayhem just as they were about to settle in for a night of Blockbuster and chill.
However, this is not the last time that Ethan’s entrepreneurship brings chaos to the Southern California town, as he makes a return in Season 3 to tempt adults into devouring candy that turns them into sex-crazed teenagers. And nobody wants to see their parents running around town doing that.

...TMI Mom.

Strengths: magic, sewing, salesmanshipWeaknesses: magic

4. Evil Willow

Sometimes a girl can be her own worst enemy and nobody knows that better than bookworm Willow Rosenberg. Being the responsible one in a circle of friends is commendable but the same old song and dance each day can be easily misinterpreted as being a drag. There comes a time when every girl needs to let her hair down but it’s important to keep the bad girl side in check before someone gets hurt. Unfortunately for Sunnydale High, Willow takes teenage rebellion to a rather dark place. Willow’s alternate universe self, vampire Willow, is snarky, seductive, and quite the ass-kicker.

Don't mind the overbite.

We get it, Willow. It feels good to be bad once in a while. But don’t beat yourself up over it.

Every high school has a cluster of students who are too cool for school. They’re obnoxious, defiant, and every day is a party for them. And for a brief moment in time, yours ghouly wanted to be a part of this pack. But there is a fine line between being a teenage lobotomy and being possessed by evil hyenas. In a town that sits atop of the Hellmouth, evil hyenas are a more likely cause for immaturity and teenage rebellion.

"And then I said, 'The pigs ate my homework, so I ate the pig.'"

Already hellbent on making classmates miserable, Sunnydale High’s band of misfits are taken over by a pack of hyenas during a field trip to the local zoo and return to school bloodthirsty for more suspensions on their records… and for fresh meat.